Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump threatens to abandon peace talks while Putin launches overnight drone attack
US president Donald Trump has doubled down on Washington’s threats to abandon talks aimed at brokering a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine if there are no signs of immediate progress.
“Now if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, ‘you’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people, and we’re going to just take a pass,” Mr Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.
“But hopefully we won’t have to do that,” he added.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio also warned on Friday that the White House may move on unless there are signs of progress.
Their comments came hours after Ukraine announced it had signed a preliminary agreement on a minerals deal with the US and that a final accord could be reached by the end of next week.
Meanwhile, Russia launched eight missiles and 87 drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine on Saturday, causing damage in five regions across the country, the Ukrainian air force said.
On Friday, another attack launched by Russia on Ukraine killed one person and wounded more than 100 others, including six children, in Kharkiv, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Mr Zelensky also claimed that China is supplying weapons, including gunpowder and artillery, to Russia – accusations that China has dismissed.
